CD

The music is rooted in classic 80s metal, but with a punk wave twist that makes In Solitude sound fresh. A big strength concerning this album is the actual performances; you can just feel the energy and pure will that lies behind the band members' delivery of the music, expressive and rock solid on every front. “He comes” opens the disc and lays the groundwork for the melancholic atmosphere that runs through the album. Most of the songs are very catchy and there is not one bad song among them.

Human Fortress is a melodic power metal band from Germany. It all started in 1997 when guitarists Torsten Wolf and Volker Trost joined with bassist Pablo J. Tammen to form a band called Timezone. Shortly after recording a demo, the collaboration ended.

No, you silly, nót a new solo album by the frontman of Bush, but a re-issue of the man's solo album of 2008, which had been unavailable for some while now!

Norway’s Drottnar were formed in 1996 as Vitality, back then playing a slightly technical form of Death Metal. Shortly after, they did change both name (into the current one, Drottnar) and musical approach, the latter being more epic and paganized Black Metal oriented. But during the 2000’s, the style evolved some more, floating into the actual direction of experimental and technical Grind-Metal with, musically, a profound Black Metal foundation.

At the end of Summer 2009, drummer Quint Meerbeek (ex-Bloodphemy & Autumnal Reaper) and guitarist / vocalist Thomas Wouters formed Bodyfarm with the intention to pay tribute to the basics of pure Death Metal. In 2010 there was a self-called EP, followed by their Cyclone Empire-debut Malevolence (review updated on August 29^th 2012 by undersigned). In mean time, the band also built a huge reputation as live act within the trans-European scene.

Heavy sludge metal a la Nightstick, Electric Wizard, Sleep, EyeHateGod and In the Company of Serpents from this NY trio on this 6-song outing, as the majority of the music on We Are Here lies buried under a powerful onslaught of gritty vocals and a treacherous stomp of beats. From the opener of “Amnesia” through “Colombus” and “Seven” the band seems to create an honest and raw take on.

Together with Streets bandmate Mike Slamer, Kansas bass player Billy Greer formed Seventh Key in 2001. They released two critically acclaimed albums, the self-titled debut in 2001 and ‘The Raging Fire’ in 2004, followed by the live cd/dvd ‘Live In Atlanta’ in 2005. Now 8 years later they finally released the long awaited follow up and it’s again a fine piece of work. Musically however there are no big surprises.

This Chilean band was formed in 1985 (!) as Pentagram by guitar players Juan Pablo Uribe and Anton Reisenegger; you might recognise the last one, also vocalist of the band, from his collaboration with super-band Lock-Up as well, or one of Chile’s best known and oldest Death / Thrash acts, Criminal, for sure. He also joined (legendary) Uruguay-based Death Metal band Inner Sanctvm a couple of years ago, by the way.

Monolithe are one of Sylvain Bégot’s outfits (one might know him from Anthemon as well; this act originally started as a side-project, but since Anthemon was put to rest…). Besides the main instruments (bass, guitars and keyboards), Sylvain took care of this fourth album’s production too.

Finland’s In Silentio Noctis were formed seven years ago, with a debut full length in 2010, called Through Fragments Of Christianity (also via My Kingdom Music). And in the vein of that first full studio release, Disenchanting The Hypocrites continues the path of Symphonic and Obscure Metal.